The economics and politics of 'creativity' in Singapore
Lee, T. and Lim, D. (2004) The economics and politics of 'creativity' in Singapore. Australian Journal of Communication, 31 (2). pp. 149-165.
On 26 September, as Singapore faced up to its worst economic year since attaining full political independence in 1965, the Creative Industries Working Group (CIWG) of the Economic Review Committee (ERC), a government-appointed high-level body tasked with identifying future economic growth sectors and opportunities for Singapore, unveiled its report entitled Creative Industries Development Strategy: Propelling Singapore's Creative Economy (CIWG, 2002). Among other envisaged outcomes, this policy aims to encourage risk-taking and entrepreneurship, and attract creative 'talents' to set up shop in Singapore. While the notion of the 'creative industries' has been modelled after global trends, its application in a society notorious for its censorious political climate, as well as its overt emphases on commercial outcomes, is fraught with problems. This paper offers a critical examination of this new creative industries policy direction spearheaded by the Singapore government, and considers how, if at all, Singapore may achieve its prescribed goal of becoming a 'New Asia Creative Hub' of the 21st Century (CIWG, 2002, p.v).
|Publication Type:||Journal Article|
|Murdoch Affiliation:||School of Media, Communication and Culture|
|Publisher:||Queensland Institute of Technology. Communication Institute|
|Copyright:||2004 The Author|
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